WANT A JOB AFTER COLLEGE? MAJOR IN COMPUTER SCIENCE

Want a high-paying job after college? Major in computer science and send your resume to Microsoft.

The company pays well and is hiring.

That’s what one of its lead counselors said to about 650 education professionals at a panel discussion in San Diego on Friday at a conference held by the American Association of Community Colleges.

William Kamela, the company’s senior policy counsel, based in Washington, D.C., said Microsoft has 6,300 job openings; 3,600 of them are in computer science and engineering. Most pay $100,000 in salary, but add in benefits and the compensation is closer to $200,000. Finding people to fill them is a challenge. Kamela said 83 percent of Microsoft’s research and development is done in the United States, but that’s in jeopardy if the jobs go unfilled.

“Those numbers are going to change drastically if we can’t fix what we are calling a national skills gap,” he said.

Kamela said the country is producing 40,000 computer science graduates each year, but the need is for more than 120,000. Kamela encouraged educators to invest in STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Kamela said computer science degrees will be the basis for 1 in 10 jobs in this country moving forward, but only 8 percent of college freshmen major in the field.

“If we quite frankly can’t fill those jobs in the very near future, we are already making plans to move their jobs offshore,” he said.

For those who don’t pursue a four-year degree in computer science, there’s also plenty of opportunity to be found in information technology, other panelists said.

Bill Feiereisen, senior scientist and corporate strategist at Intel, said the company struggles to find qualified people in I.T. He said Intel mostly looks to community colleges instead of four-year schools because the skills taught at universities are not workforce-ready.

He said more technical skills are being learned through a growing apprenticeship system. Mike McSally, vice president for Allegis Group, a staffing agency, said between 1,500 and 2,000 of its 7,000 workers are in I.T.

“We cannot recruit people fast enough,” he said, noting an aging workforce and a need for educational programs to teach I.T. skills. “Attracting and getting people into the pipeline is really important.”